This invention relates to a method and system for automated processing of articles and more particularly relates to an automated checkout system for efficiently handling the selection and purchase of items in a retail establishment such as a supermarket.
For many reasons, including those of labor costs and customer convenience, the rapid processing of articles which are selected from a storage location for delivery to a remote point, has become increasingly important. One example of an application in which such article processing is important is in a supermarket or other retail establishment. Supermarkets most commonly employ customer-operated grocery carts in the transportation of selected grocery and other items from stocked shelves to a checkout station where the price of each article is determined, the total bill is computed, and payment is made by the customer. Some of the disadvantages of such a system include congestion from a large number of carts being operated by customers in narrow aisles between food displays, costs of purchasing and maintaining the carts and waiting in line by customers at checkout stations. It would therefore be advantageous to have an article processing system, such as could be used in a supermarket or other retail establishment, which would largely eliminate the need for grocery carts and which would facilitate the speedy and efficient selection and processing of articles.